Fumie Suguri
Fumie Suguri born in 1984 in Chiba, Japan is a Japanese figure skater. She is a five-time Japanese and three-time World Championship medalist, as well as the 2004 Grand Prix Final Champion. Latest News __TOC__ Videos Image Gallery Image:Sk8can 2002 suguri.jpg|Skate Canada 2002 Image:Fumie Suguri 2003 NHK Trophy.jpg|At the 2003 NHK Trophy Image:Fumie.jpg Image:Fumie fs fc06.jpg|During the Free Skate at Four Continents 2006 Image:Fumie fc07.jpg|At Four Continents 2007 Image:Xits10812251000.widec.jpg Image:C0I22.JPG|With Tanith Belbin, Sasha Cohen and Philippe Candeloro during the Champions on Ice Tour Image:Fumieint1.jpg|Signing autographs in 2008 Image:Fumie3.jpg Trivia * Suguri took skating lessons because of her mother who didn't want her to lose her memories of playing winter sports in Alaska. http://www.mceskating.com/biofumie.shtml Fumie Suguri: Olympian, World Bronze Medalist], Michael Collins Enterprises, mceskating.com. * Suguri had never heard of the Rolling Stones until she skated to "Paint It Black". News, Features: The Latest on Fumie, Micheal Collins Enterprises, mceskating.com. *At the end of her 2002 Olympic free program, Suguri accidentally turned the wrong way. Quotes Biography Personal life Suguri was born in Chiba, Japan. Her younger sister, Chika Suguri, is also a figure skater. Her father was a pilot for JAL and Suguri lived in Anchorage, Alaska was a child. As a result, she is bilingual in Japanese and English. She graduated from Waseda University. Career ]] She began skating at age 5 in Alaska. When she returned to Japan, she began training. In 1994, Suguri visited the practice rink for the 1994 World Figure Skating Championships and learned the triple Lutz jump personally from Michelle Kwan, who was competing in those Worlds. Suguri won her first Japanese national title in 1997, and won it three more times between 2001-2003 and again in 2006. In 2001, Suguri won the 2001 Four Continents Championships. She is the first Japanese woman to win that competition. She would go on to win that competition three more times in her career and she holds the most Four Continents titles of any Japanese skater and any female skater. In 2002, she competed at the 2002 Winter Olympics and placed 5th. A month later, she won the bronze medal at the 2002 World Figure Skating Championships behind Michelle Kwan and Irina Slutskaya. Her bronze medal at Worlds was the first medal for a Japanese woman at the World Championships since Yuka Sato won the title in 1994. In 2003, Suguri won the bronze medal again at the World Championships, this time behind Kwan and Elena Sokolova. In 2004, she won the NHK Trophy, placed 3rd at Cup of China and qualified for the 2004 Grand Prix Final. Suguri won the Final over Sasha Cohen. Suguri is the first Japanese woman to win that competition. In 2006, she won the Japanese Figure Skating Championships ahead of Mao Asada and Shizuka Arakawa. She competed at the 2006 Winter Olympics, where she placed 4th. She won the silver medal at the 2006 World Figure Skating Championships behind Kimmie Meissner. She became the first Japanese woman to win three World medals. In 2007, Suguri finished fourth at the Japanese championships behind younger competitors Yukari Nakano, Miki Ando and Mao Asada missing a spot to the World Championships in her home country. She competed at the Four Continents Championships, where she withdrew due to injury after falling on two jumps in her short program. In 2008 at the Japanese National Championship, although Suguri placed third after her short program, she stumbled in the free program, finishing fourth overall, again missing a spot on the World Championship team. Coaching changes She trained under Nobuo Sato, a ten-time Japanese national champion, for 19 years, until she moved her training ground to New Jersey to work with Nikolai Morozov. She was previously coached by Oleg Vasiliev for a brief time during the 2004-05 season, but he was fired by the Japanese federation after she struggled with her jumps and had poor results in her competitions. Programs Competitive highlights Fumie Suguri has had a long competitive career. Her competitive highlights by season are split up into the tables below. Post-2004 * WD = Withdraw 1998-2004 Pre-1998 References External links *Official site *Michael Collins Enterprises Category:Japanese figure skaters